PixlBit

My last blog was right before we left on a little trip. I can't believe it's been a week since we got back! The summer solstice must be getting screwed over because I swear the days are getting shorter 

But anyway, it was a good trip, flying with a toddler notwithstanding. We got to see my family and do some cool things, like go to the zoo, which was a new experience for my son. He was flipping out about all the big animals  I also picked up a few games at some thrift stores we went to (more on that in my monthly recap) and played some games with my brother that were new to me, most notably Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. I know we have some big fans of that game on Pixlbit (like Cary Woodham, unless I'm mistaken) and I was excited to play it but I must say that I was a little disappointed with it. I got a feel for how it played after a few rounds and I wish the element of luck wasn't as strong. You can only destroy blocks when the appropriately colored smash gem (or whatever they were called) happens to come down the pipeline. If you're good (and a little lucky), you can set up chain reactions and dump garbage on your opponent. But if they dump on you first, you might be in trouble. Garbage can really screw you over in this game and a big load is almost guaranteed to kill you. That can be very frustrating.

Okay, so the timer on the garbage, counting down till it turns into normal blocks, is a cool mechanic.

The problem is that I'm a big fan of Tetris Attack/Pokemon Puzzle League, and comparisons are easy to make between these games. But Puzzle Fighter is very different. It's a much faster game, almost like a race to get that first big load of garbage. But in the Puzzle League games you can keep playing regardless of how much garbage lands on you...if you're good enough. That element of being able to persevere on sheer skill alone isn't there in Puzzle Fighter and that makes me sad. Of course, all this is based on a single evening of playing the game, so I'm sure there is plenty of room to argue about it.

Also got to play X-Men 2 for the Genesis (a fun but odd brawler) and Darius Twin for the SNES (which is probably more difficult playing together than alone) and other stuff (I hadn't played Tekken 3 in years!). So yeah, fun trip. Then I finished up Dead Space after getting back (cool game!) but let's talk about that later